The Tesco jobs row that erupted on social media site Twitter last week risks "undermining"
valuable welfare schemes that help get young people back to work, the British
Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has warned.

Screengrab of the Tesco job advert. Jobcentre Plus had advertised a permanent job at Tesco with no wages, leading to a huge row on Twitter

By Louisa Peacock

6:00AM GMT 21 Feb 2012

The business group has urged the Government and employers not to let the debate on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook drive policy decisions on tackling youth unemployment.

Adam Marshall, BCC director of policy, said activists are increasingly using social media to mobilise support, but there are concerns that a relatively small group of people can reach large audiences and sway opinion without offering all the facts.

He said: "Social media has an important role in public discussions but everyone must understand the facts.

"The Twitter debate is symptomatic of a wider problem; sometimes the understanding of the good business does in society is lost. You can't expect business to create work experience placements while attempting to regulate those placements.

"Work experience has proven itself over the years and we wouldn't want to see that undermined by the social media debate."

Tesco has come under fire for hiring hundreds of unemployed benefits claimants on four-week work experience schemes in return for no pay – just expenses and Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA), at £53.45 per week for under-25s.

The placements are part of a Government welfare scheme aimed at encouraging business to provide unpaid work placements, to improve jobseekers' skills and make them more "job ready". It is voluntary, but if applicants pull out, there is a threat they will lose their JSA payments.

Tesco is meeting with the Department for Work and Pensions this week to urge ministers to remove the threat of jobseekers losing benefits if they drop out of the scheme.

However, the UK's biggest supermarket has never offered a separate Government work scheme, which is mandatory and forces people to go on unpaid placements or lose their benefits. Other retailers including Sainsbury's have also decided not to offer this.

The Twitter row has led to some confusion over the two schemes, with some people assuming Tesco is taking part in the mandatory, rather than voluntary, programme.

That has not stopped campaigners rallying support to campaign for all welfare work experience placements to be scrapped.

One group, Right to Work, claimed that jobseekers were "coerced" into work experience. Another group, Unfair Workfare, launched a petition to ditch all unpaid work experience schemes, saying they amount to slave labour. It has 7,000 signatories.